More than 8,000 general practitioners in the United Kingdom will soon begin displaying in their offices seven "end-of-life" promises to their patients. It is a great idea. According to an article in The Independent, every GP (much like primary care physicians in the U.S.) will post this end-of-life pledge on the wall of their waiting room. The Charter for End of [...]
Last evening, I had the opportunity to speak to WISER (Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement), a Washington, D.C.- based group dedicated to improving the financial security of women. My topic: caregiving, and the effects it has on Baby Boomer women. I told the group about a couple of women I met when I wrote my book, Caring for Our [...]
Kaiser Health News published my column today on what Medicaid cuts would mean for seniors and others with disabilities. While most of the public and many policymakers never think about the importance of the Medicaid safety net for these people, the program is the nation's largest single payer of of long-term care supports and services. If future Medicaid benefits are reduced and most middle-class [...]
Next week, I'll be speaking to faculty and others at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine on the importance of fully integrating long-term care services and supports with medical care. On May 23, I'll be delivering the same message to a large non-profit health system that includes more than two dozen hospitals. Physicians and health system adminstrators are beginning to get it: [...]
New federal legislation would make it easier for states to deny Medicaid health and long-term care benefits to the frail elderly and younger adults with disabilities. The new rules would also apply to low-income women and kids who rely on Medicaid for their medical care. The proposal, introduced yesterday by Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), would repeal an obscure piece of federal [...]
In recent weeks, I've written about what the House Republican plan to cap federal Medicaid contributions would mean to the frail elderly and younger adults with disabilities who are receiving care at home. Today, I'll take a look at what it would mean for skilled nursing facilites and their nearly 900,000 residents whose care is paid for by the joint federal/state program. The picture is [...]
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to NICHE, (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders) a joint venture of the Hartford Institute and the New York University School of Nursing dedicated to improving the quality of geriatric nursing. NICHE understands that caring for elders is not like caring for younger patients, and it has developed new techniques to both assess [...]
As if we needed it, this week has provided yet more evidence that the world of both medical and long-term care services for seniors is changing in profound ways. It is complicated and hard to follow, but the bottom line is this: There will be increasingly less government support for the services frail seniors and their families need. And senior services [...]
The House Republican Budget proposal released today calls for the biggest changes in health and long-term care services for the elderly in a half-century. While there is no chance that these proposals will be enacted as proposed, they reflect a profound sea change in the way many in Washington look at assistance for seniors, and especially for the frail elderly. [...]
Hospital readmissions are bad for patients—especially seniors who may already be weakened by multiple chronic disease. They cost tens of billions of dollars. They are not even good for hospitals (at least not top-quality facilities that regularly fill their beds). About one in five Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days, and one-third within 90 days, according to a New [...]